ABC Wednesday Challenge - M

It's ABC Wednesday again, and this week, the letter is

I wasn't sure which way to go with this one. The obvious was MICHIGAN, and I thought about that. But where would I start? And how would I fit it all in one post?

Neither MY MARJORAM,



nor MY MINT


are worth bragging about yet this year.

MY friend MIKE offered to let ME use his MOOSE as a MODEL. This is not your ordinary MOOSE! It is a MULTICOLORED MOSAIC MOOSE, METICULOUSLY MANUFACTURED from a MULTITUDE of MACHINED wood among them MAHOGANY and MAPLE.


It is truly a MASTERPIECE, but it isn't MINE.

MY next thought was of the MOUNTAINS. That is the one thing I MISS about Utah.

MICHIGAN is MAGNIFICENT, but there are no MOUNTAINS.

What MICHIGAN DOES have though is MAPLE trees! Lots and lots of MAPLE trees. MANY, MANY, MANY!
From MINIATURE MAPLES, (like the Crimson Maple seedling shown here)

to MEDIUM SIZED MAPLES (the parent Crimson Maple)to

MAJESTIC MAPLES ,

MICHIGAN is full of MAPLE TREES.

So. MY M post is dedicated to the MAPLE tree.

Maple trees have been a part of the culture and history of MICHIGAN for MANY years.
There are Native American legends about the origins of Maple Syrup, and they were seasoning food with MAPLE long before the area was settled.

But MAPLE syrup is just one of the MANY uses for MAPLES.


MAPLE wood is the wood of choice for bowling alleys,


bowling pins,.

pool cues and Butcher blocks.

MAPLE is popular in cabinetry and fine woodworking.

MAPLE is a primary wood in guitars and MANY MORE MUSICAL instruments, including drums.

MAPLE wood is dried and used for smoking MEAT and other food. MAPLE seeds are often boiled, to remove bitter compounds, then dried roasted and ground to blend with exotic coffees.

MAPLE sap is boiled into syrup, sugar and candy, but MAPLE flavoring is also used in many products you see every day.





The MAPLE Leaf is the symbol of Canada, and, although there is widely differing opinion as to the origins of this symbol, some attributing it to WWI and some to centuries earlier, I find it significant that the song, The Maple Leaf Forever, written by Alexander Muir in 1867, and a sort of unofficial anthem of Canada, makes reference to the Maple leaf as a combination of the Thistle, the Shamrock and the Rose, each a symbol of one of the British countries from which Canada's roots sprang.



So My M for the week is MAPLE, not to be confused with MAYPOLE, a different post for another day.

Let ME just end with one final note.
In the crotch of the trunk of this MAPLE tree is a small patch of grass. I have to wonder. How did it get planted, and MORE importantly, how is it MOWN?


A, the MYSTERIES one encounters, when out researching M's!

Please take some time to check out what others were INSPIRED to blog about this week, at

ABC Wednesday,
and feel free to add your own blog to the list as we work our way through the alphabet.

~{@ @}~ ~{@ @}~ ~{@ @}~ ~{@ @}~

Be sure and join me each Tuesday for Tuesday Trivia Tie-in, where readers are invited to share trivia and show off their treasures.


Read all about it here